SPITZ: 'Christa's Bells' will chime at church and FSU

A new carillon system will be bought for the Ecumenical Center at Framingham State thanks to money the Independent Association of Framingham State Alumni had earmarked for improvements at the center, as well as through donations the association received when alumni heard of the plans for "Christa's Bells.''

"Christa's Bells'' have offered comfort, inspiration and the hope their history would keep the Archdiocese of Boston from closing their parish home, but after the St. Jeremiah property was sold to the Syro Malabar Eparchy, it seemed as if the carillon installed in Christa McAuliffe's memory would move across town.

As Grace Corrigan had hoped when talks began with Framingham State University more than a year ago, "Christa's Bells'' will become an integral part of the campus where McAuliffe studied to become a teacher and the space education center bears her name.

But the original carillon will remain in the place where McAuliffe worshiped, married and was eulogized after the space shuttle Challenger explosion took her life.

After representatives from Framingham State studied the structure, they were concerned a move would irreparably damage the aging bell system, and "the decision was made to leave them for our community,'' said Mary Beth Carmody, who is among the St. Jeremiah members who worship as part of the St. Thomas Syro-Malabar Catholic Church of Boston congregation at the Brook Street church.

So a new carillon system will be bought for the Ecumenical Center at Framingham State thanks to money the Independent Association of Framingham State Alumni had earmarked for improvements at the center, as well as through donations the association received when alumni heard of the plans for "Christa's Bells.''

"It will still retain the spirit'' of the digital bell system at the Brook Street church, said Debbie Cleveland, assistant to the director at IAFSA. "It's still inspired by their carillon.''

It will honor McAuliffe's legacy, and also "the impact all of our alums have made in the world,'' Cleveland said.

When Framingham native McAuliffe, the nation's first "Teacher in Space,'' was killed in the shuttle explosion, "on Jan. 28, 1986, church bells tolled throughout Framingham out of respect for the the Challenger astronauts,'' Corrigan wrote in her 2000 book, "A Journal for Christa.''

"Our pastor, Father O'Connor, received a call and was asked if the parish bells were ringing. He had to confess that we did not have any bells.''

That evening, the parish council decided to establish a fund for a carillon that "would ring out, gracing the neighborhood that she once graced with her presence, calling people to worship and pealing hymns of praise each day,'' Corrigan wrote.

"I do think the bells are where they are meant to be,'' said Carmody, co-chairwoman of the St. Jeremiah group that still has a pending canon appeal to the parish closing.

It is where Christa was baptized, said Carmody, and where "her mother could hear the bells from her home.

"There have been things that have happened throughout this whole ordeal,'' since the 2005 archdiocese decree to close the parish sparked a six-year round-the-clock vigil and multiple civil and church appeals, "that weren't anticipated,'' said Carmody, but have also been blessings in disguise.

Page 2 of 2 -
The win-win of keeping the carillon at the church and having a system in McAuliffe's memory at her alma mater seems to be among those unanticipated blessings in disguise.

Also among the blessings, the Most Rev. Walter Edyvean, Auxiliary Bishop for the West region, has given the OK for a special Roman-rite Mass in memory of McAuliffe in January, said Carmody.

And although they need the timing fine-tuned after Daylight Saving ends this weekend, "Christa's Bells'' still ring at least twice a day.

Julia Spitz can be reached at 508-626-3968 or jspitz@wickedlocal.com. Follow her on Twitter at SpitzJ_MW.